Museum of Natural and Cultural History breaks ground for new wing

Looking south from East 15th Avenue: Phase 1 of a three-stage expansion is a new collections wing (left, dark brown facade) and public galleria (gabled roof, right). The new wing will free the existing collections vault (gold-colored rectangle on the existing building's roof) for a new exhibit hall. The clear gold portion stands for the third phase, a second new wing devoted to archaeological research.

Robertson Sherwood Architects

EUGENE, Ore. -- (Aug. 6, 2008) -- With help from U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), the University of Oregon’s Museum of Natural and Cultural History today broke ground on a new wing to house more than 500,000 artifacts uncovered by road and public works projects dating back to the construction of dams on the Columbia River.

UO President Dave Frohnmayer said expanding the main museum building at 1680 East 15th Ave. has been a top university priority since the late 1990s because state-mandated anthropological collections have become so large that they now occupy parts of five other buildings on or near campus. [See sidebar, "State highway projects often lead to UO museum"]

Frohnmayer said the new collections wing, designed by Robertson Sherwood Architects of Eugene in consultation with architect Otto Poticha, is the first of three stages planned for a $9.55 million expansion that will double the museum's space for collections, research laboratories and public programs.

A groundbreaking surprise!

DeFazio holds a surprise gift he "dug up" at the groundbreaking. (Read more)

(Photo by Jack Liu)

"The driving force for the expansion is the museum's pressing need for space to carry out its mission as the official keeper and interpreter of Oregon's story," Frohnmayer said. "Thanks to Congressman Peter DeFazio, ancient treasures belonging to the people of Oregon will continue to be protected for future generations."

The first phase, a $2.8 million collections wing, will bring significant items found on public lands in Oregon together under one roof for the first time. The new facility's storage vaults will provide state-of-the-art preservation for fragile items and make the collections more accessible for research and education programs.

A major federal highway-spending bill authorized by Congress in 2005 provides $2.17 million for the collections center. DeFazio, who chairs the federal highways and transit subcommittee, said he requested federal funds because "Oregon's anthropological collections and the research associated with them are of great national and international significance."

"The UO Museum of Natural and Cultural History is an essential partner in every road and bridge project that occurs within Oregon's borders," DeFazio said. "Each time we break ground for a new road project, we turn up new pieces of the puzzle that is our state’s unique heritage."

The university will select a contractor and begin construction of the collections wing by the start of fall term. Completion is anticipated by May 2009—and not a moment too soon, according to museum director Jon Erlandson, a UO archaeology professor.

"Every year we're learning more about Oregon’s rich history," Erlandson said, "and in the process more and more collections are generated. We have run out of secure space to accommodate these collections. Without this new facility, we would have been forced to stop accepting many important discoveries from federal and state lands in Oregon, a reversion to the 19th century when many Oregon artifacts and fossils were shipped off to museums in other states or countries."

Erlandson said plans are moving forward for the next two stages of the expansion: 

• Fundraising has begun for the estimated $2 million needed for phase two, remodeling the museum's existing collections vault to create a new exhibit hall dedicated to the natural and geological history of Oregon and the Pacific Northwest.

• In July, the Oregon University System approved the UO's request to seek authorization from the state Legislature to raise $4.75 million from state, federal and private sources for phase three, a second new wing containing an archaeological research center. The goal is to bring the museum's laboratories--now scattered across campus--into a single complex, making services more efficient and facilitating interdisciplinary collaboration.

Wednesday's groundbreaking ceremonies followed the announcement of a $500,000 lead gift from the Roseburg-based Ford Family Foundation for adding a public galleria to the new collections wing and remodeling the existing collections vault for educational purposes.

"We are proud to help improve public access to the University of Oregon Museum of Natural and Cultural History," said Norm Smith, Ford Family Foundation president. "A sense of place and history is a foundation for community building. The stories of our region's rural history are available through the museum's facilities, faculty and outreach."

Several other major donors, including the Oregon Cultural Trust and retired UO geology professor Ewart Baldwin and his wife Margaret, who died in 2002, have been longtime supporters of expanding the museum.

The museum's collections and research divisions work closely with Oregon’s Native American tribes in studying Oregon’s history, the repatriation of human remains, and the preservation and interpretation of important heritage sites.

"This museum has a long history of collaboration with Native peoples as it has been a most diligent steward of our most treasured and guarded cultural items," said Jason Younker, a member of the Coquille tribe and cultural anthropologist at the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York. "It is because of the UO Museum of Natural and Cultural History's exemplary stewardship and reputation that Native peoples are excited about this project and the future collaboration that will most certainly take place in the magnificent repository that will be located on this site."

In an agreement dating back to the mid-1970s, the University of Oregon acts as the state's official archaeologist for the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT).

"The Oregon Department of Transportation has a long and productive relationship with the Museum of Natural and Cultural History, and we're delighted to see this plan for a much needed expansion coming to fruition," said Hal Gard, ODOT's chief environmental officer.

Located near historic Hayward Field, the UO museum houses collections from around the world. It is most famous for its collection of the world's oldest shoes, the 10,000-year-old Fort Rock sandals, hundreds of baskets made by members of the Pacific Northwest's Native American tribes and more than 50,000 significant fossils from a variety of contexts and time periods.

The museum's 50 staff members actively engage in archaeological and paleontological research in Oregon, the Pacific Northwest, and beyond, including cutting-edge work on the coastal migration theory and the peopling of the Americas, historical archaeology, climate change and human impacts on natural ecosystems. (See Museum Expansion Fact Sheet)

About the University of Oregon
The University of Oregon is a world-class teaching and research institution and Oregon's flagship public university. The UO is a member of the Association of American Universities (AAU), an organization made up of 62 of the leading public and private research institutions in the United States and Canada. Membership in the AAU is by invitation only. The University of Oregon is one of only two AAU members in the Pacific Northwest.

Contact: Julie Brown, 541-346-3185, julbrown@uoregon.edu

Image: Architectural rendering, as shown above. (NOTE: Click on image that comes up to access the full-sized high-resolution version)

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